Age of first drug use in UAE declining

Abu Dhabi, UAE: The age of first drug use among UAE youth is declining, and patients as young as 12 have been known to be addicted to various substances, a senior addiction prevention official said in the capital on Monday.

Most of these addictions begin with simple, easily available substances, such as intoxicative inhalants like glue, and progress to prescription drugs and other substances such as morphine and heroin.

"Drug addiction is a killer disease and is eventually fatal one way or another. Unfortunately, we now see patients as young as 12 and 13 years old, mainly boys. These users usually end up addicted to prescription drugs, such as Tramadol, which are readily available and cheap to obtain," Dr Ali Al Marzouqi, director of public health and research at the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), told Gulf News.

Dr Al Marzouqi was speaking at the first Global Forum for Youth Leaders on Drug Use Prevention, an initiative launched by the NRC in collaboration with the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific. The five-day forum will see 400 youth leaders and addiction prevention professionals in attendance from 46 countries, and they will discuss ways and strategies to empower youth against substance use.

The NRC is the UAE’s main rehabilitation facility, and it can accommodate up to 70 in-patients at a time. At present, the centre admits only Emirati patients.

But Dr Al Marzouqi said that the feasibility of opening up the NRC services to expatriate patients is being studied.

"We need to look into the cost, payment methods and extent of services that need to be provided for expatriates. Also, experience shows that patients are more comfortable during treatment with people from similar backgrounds, and we need to see how this can be provided. A draft addressing these will be drawn up by the end of the year," he explained.

Depending on a patient’s degree of addiction, the NRC draws up a treatment plan, which includes a week to 10 days of detoxification. After the withdrawal symptoms are reduced, patients receive individual, group and family counselling regularly.

"The average relapse rate is about 50 to 60 per cent, which is normal. We have treated many patients who have relapsed five to six times, so it is important for addicts to understand that there is always hope and they should seek help," Dr Al Marzouqi said.

He added that the centre also helps patients to find recruitment once they have battled their addictions, and that one former patient is even employed at the NRC at present.

The main causes of addiction worldwide are peer pressure, family and financial crises, curiosity about the experience, and lack of spiritual and moral values, experts said at the forum. The conference, which will continue until Friday, is being held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

Youth attendees at the event are aged between 18 and 27, and Dr Noura Al Ka’abi, head of project management at the NRC, said that this age group is being targeted because it is most prone to substance use.

"Our aim is to create leaders who develop projects to combat drug abuse in their respective communities. After a year-long developmental phase, we will select and fund the top three most effective initiatives," Dr Noura said.

She added that future editions of the forum will be organised based on the success of this initial conference.